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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25534222">Story of the endless walls</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liah/pseuds/Liah'>Liah</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mushishi, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Author Is Sleep Deprived, Crossover, Gen, No Betaread, parental Ginko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 08:48:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,891</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25534222</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liah/pseuds/Liah</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ginko never wanted to have kids. He ended up with not only one, but three of them.<br/>Shall we start from the beginning? </p><p> </p><p>(or: mushi transported Ginko to other universe)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ginko/Karibusa Tanyuu, Levi/Petra Ral</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Mushi is a creature itself. Mushishi is master of mushi (I had the problem to distinguish that before I started writing this).<br/>I have used mushi listed in wiki, but in some cases I changed some of their characteristics.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ginko never wanted to have kids. He ended up with not only one, but three of them.<br/>
Shall we start from the beginning?<br/>
*** *** ***<br/>
Sense of smell comes first and goes as the last. That much he knows.<br/>
His first breath tastes like mud and rotten potatoes. </p><p>He sits, feeling sticky, his body covered by sweat of  hot summer day – strange, since the last thing he remembers is a swamp and heavy forest rain, one of those you feel even in your bones.<br/>
He is in a town – a big one, actually, the biggest one he ever seen. Streets are crowded and dirty and someone had to be kind enough to put his body and his wooden pack near to some building so nobody would step on him, but not kind enough to take him actually in or to hospital. </p><p>Ginko remembers the mushi living in the swamp. He thought he was going to deal with <em>Ubusuna</em>, almost not threatening mushi if the one knows what to do, only to discover that mist is only a part of the particular mushi, the one unknown to Ginko. He remembers that water was cold and how underwater plants felt against his hands and nape, then nothing. </p><p>He sighs and scratch his head. There is no use in worrying too much about it, as long as nobody is in danger.<br/>
He does not know the city and its people, but mushi around him <em>are</em> familiar – clinging to other passengers, streets and buildings, unassuming and unafraid, slow and fast, crawling and flying. Slowly gravitating towards him. There were too many there, but with such a big city, there was no wonder. He must not stay long, otherwise, these people may suffer from much more inexplicable problems than they already must have with so many mushi around. </p><p>He stood up. He will ask the name and position of the city, the he will decide where to go. Maybe it was the right time to head back to Adashino and pay him the visit.<br/>
His breath hitched.<br/>
The city was surrounded by the wall reaching the sky itself.<br/>
*** *** ***<br/>
He asked around. </p><p>The many looked at him strangely, but he knew how to stay vague enough that they would not question his sanity, only his intelligence. The wall was called Wall Maria. Nobody knew when it was build and how. Ginko visited the tower, just too see things from a higher perspective – the city behind the wall was big enough to be separated in districts, taking three or so days to walk from one end to another.<br/>
These people, their architecture and society is more advanced than villagers he is used to. There are bit better educated, too, but also bit crueler.<br/>
They will not let him go beyond the walls, calling him suicidal. The monsters, titans, are there, they say.</p><p> He is trapped.<br/>
*** *** ***<br/>
He never sleep at the same spot twice.<br/>
He travels by foot from one part of Wall Maria to another. Then again and again. It seems to be enough to make sure that mushi would not accumulate too much. He helps people to deal with mushi because that is his purpose as a mushishi. </p><p>He misses forests and mountains. He misses travelling and opportunity to stay away from people. The silence. A good sleep in grass with his feet being sore. These people already forgot the old ways of life.<br/>
Firstly, the citizens call him mad. Then, he saves the people of Shiganshina District from a plague, at least that is what they thought – it was mushi nesting in the cracks of the wall, slowly taking calcium from the bones of person who would look at the wall for too long. They just needed to pour salt water on the wall and drink salt water themselves to chase away the mushi for good. </p><p>After that, nobody dares to mock him anymore. </p><p>He helps people and mushi alike, making sure any harm is avoided to both species. Grateful people offer him food and shelter. For many nights, he sleeps at roofs of these people houses, trying to find star constellations similar to ones in his word.<br/>
One day, he is crouching beside a trunk of apple tree, observing interesting mushi – it is stealing sugar from the tree, causing apples to be sour. If human eats the fruit, they would gain memories of particular tree.  There is a blond boy sitting in the tree crown, so quiet and tiny that Ginko does not notice him until he chooses to speak:</p><p>“You see them. <em>You see them too.</em>” There is wonder and relief in his voice, and Ginko feels the relief, too – he is not the only one mushishi around, someone who understands is in the strange world, too. Ability to see pass in generations of family, so there must be more mushishi around, close enough.<br/>
“I do. Come down, child.”<br/>
*** *** ***<br/>
The child is called Armin.<br/>
He has only his grandfather. The man does not see mushi. He seems to be afraid of Armin though.<br/>
“Are you sure there is nobody else?” Ginko asks him. The boy needs some mushishi to teach him, otherwise, he would be a danger to himself and everybody around him. The boy is already delicate, tending to catch too many diseases – mushi are clinging to him, until Ginko starts to smoke close to the blond. </p><p>Ginko is not a cruel man – he tells Armin to come along although the last thing he needs is a child to have around. His grandfather does not protest even a bit. It makes Ginko angry – why are these people so heartless when they are afraid?<br/>
With Armin, two other children came – Eren and Mikasa. Eren is loud, full of life, and Mikasa is a quiet shadow of his. Their father is missing and mother is severely ill – Ginko checks on her as soon as the children tell him about her, but her disease is not caused by any mushi.</p><p>“What have you seen that your hair turned white, Ginko-san?” she asks him, warm and worried. Ginko shook his head, touched and amused at once, “too much to tell. Too much to believe.”<br/>
Her destiny if out of abilities – he offers at least some painkillers to the kind woman.<br/>
*** *** ***<br/>
When Carla dies a week after, it is decided – three kids come with him.<br/>
*** *** ***<br/>
The kids changes his life in both small and significant ways. </p><p>Not many have room for four more people in their houses so Ginko requires some thick duvets and food instead – Ginko teaches the kids how to sleep comfortably at roofs, huddled together with him behind chimneys. He is lucky – climate of this world is mild, almost like an eternal summer in comparison of the harsh mountains he is used to. Food is more valuable than a shelter in this world, anyway. There is shortage of food and majority of population does not eat as much as they should. Thanks to Ginko´s work, the kids´ bellies are full. They are healthy and they adapt quickly, as children tend to. Eren and Mikasa are clearly mourning Carla, but they do so stoically. Her sickness was there for long and her death was not unexpected, it seemed. </p><p>Ginko knows he should not, but he takes the kids with him everywhere, let them listen to the stories of people he is trying to help. Let them witness their tears and hopes and too often, to witness their deaths. Ginko helps mourning families to take care of the bodies, to wash them and cloth them, and he teaches the kids how to do so, too – first few cases, they are pale and when they think he is not looking, they cry.<br/>
“There´s balance. To give and to take, to live and to die. There´s no use in being afraid of the order of things as long as you live without regrets.” Eventually, they stop crying. </p><p>They were rather interesting bunch even for a mushishi used to the wonders of world, far from bleak farmers and their soft-spoken wives – Armin with his sharp mind and hunger for understanding what he sees, he listens to his teacher with a rapt attention. He is the first one who learns to read from Ginko and then he helps to teach Mikasa (she wants to please Ginko) and Eren (he is too stubborn to stay behind in anything). When the other two sleep, Ginko also teach Armin the alphabet of his own world and let him read and study papers from his backpack. He needs to get familiar with as many mushi as possible.</p><p>Eren is… eager. He suffers being trapped behind the walls as much as Ginko does, full of life, the fire refusing to run out. He is not particularly talented, but he tries and tries and <em>tries</em>, until he gets it. He is full of ideals and Ginko hopes he will never lose them.<br/>
Mikasa is a fighter. She is fast and unforgiving and when kids tell him what happened to her biological parents, he cannot blame her for that. She is fiercely protective of the boys and even of him. Ginko does not know how to fight, since he always follow the flow of things, so he teaches her how to hide instead. In shadows, in buildings, how to be almost like a ghost before she chooses to streak her blow.</p><p>He teaches them which herbs are edible and the ones are used to heal. When sleep is far away because of nightmares, Ginko tells them stories about sea and mushi hid in shells and Eren face lit up with every mention of it. In a blink of eye, they are too big to sit comfortably in his lab, but when being particularly spooked, they still cling to him without shame and Ginko responses, pats shoulders and unruly hairs like he was doing it for all of his life.<br/>
Once, he lost the kids in the crowd. All three of them, without any warning – and for seconds he cannot find them, scanning the crowd desperately, his breathing his frantic and his heartbeat even worse – he realizes that the kids are <em>his</em>. And when the time comes, he is going to miss them dearly.<br/>
*** *** ***<br/>
For a first year or two, he makes sure that his left eye is covered by hair.<br/>
He is not ashamed – but citizens looking for relief from the creatures they cannot even see do not need a proof how dangerous mushi could be.<br/>
He was not bitter because of his missing eye. He does not remember the feeling of having both of them. He does not remember how he lost it. What was done was done and he was at least sure that he did his best under given circumstances.<br/>
He just continued in living. Wandered from place to place until he did not miss any particular anymore.</p><p>It must be probably close to the first year they spend together, when he felt small fingers on his face, stirring him from his cat nap – he heard whispered argument between Eren and Armin, those little restless boys – but pretended to be asleep. When their breaths hitched in collective horror, he knew that they had seen the hole – not even an eyelid left at the place of his eye.<br/>
He considered to let it be, but it was a valuable lecture for them.<br/>
“I´ve paid the price. I continue to live to best of my abilities.  I have nothing more to say about that, beside the fact you should respect privacy of others,” he murmured.<br/>
They never dare to ask, not even Eren.<br/>
*** *** ***<br/>
The mushi in his backpack, allowing him to communicate with other mushi. You write a message and mushi will transport it to the box with other mushi from the pair, no matter how many kilometres are between them.<br/>
Ginko wrote the message and push it into the box with the sender mushi. After an hour, the message reappeared in the box of other  mushi in Ginko´s backpack. It should not be possible – this type of mushi is able to send message only within the pair, the pair born close to each other before mushishi picked them as messengers. </p><p>It was a deadlock. There was nobody to send it to, so somehow, mushi send it to the closest mushi of their kind.<br/>
Lost and alone.<br/>
*** *** ***<br/>
He is dreaming about the River of light.<br/>
The river is deadly for a mortal, even for a mushishi, Ginko knows, but still, his dreams are full of soft light and feeling of belonging. He is alone and not alone at once. He is understood, he is a part of something bigger than life itself. He can distinguish every little kouki in the river. </p><p>These dreams left his heart heavy in longing, stealing his sleep – so he watches stars, Milky Way reminding him the river vaguely. He wonders if he will ever find the river of light of this word – there must be some, otherwise, there would not be mushi which were surrounding them even now, Eren and Mikasa huddled on his left, Armin at his right, using his arm as a pillow, soft and trusting.<br/>
*** *** ***<br/>
When they were nine, they sat him down and announced that they wanted to join military. Survey Corps, to be precise. </p><p>Even being just nine years old, they know how grave the decision was, vary of his reaction - Ginko, living behind the walls only for three years, knows that joining them was practically a death penalty. </p><p>“We want to see the ocean,” Eren explains quickly, trying to persuade him, “we wanted to be free. We´re ready to fight titans for that.”<br/>
For a heartbeat, Ginko feels guilty – maybe he should not talk about ocean and his adventures so much those three years he spend with them. Or maybe his kids just sensed his quiet but constant yearning to wander and to find his own way home, or at least to go beyond these walls of Maria. Then, dread follows – what will happen to these little ones?<br/>
Then he takes a deep breath.<br/>
He has no right to take someone´s dream away. To kill the part of them giving them a purpose in this grim world. </p><p>“I´m…. not happy about it. You´ll pay dearly for that dream,” he begins. And how can faces of nine years old be so serious? “But when you´ll old enough to do that decision at your fifteen, I´ll let you do that decision for themselves. Even if it´ll hurt me, too.”<br/>
Suddenly, he has his hands full with three kids hugging him. Huh. It was a long time since all three of them did so, “until then, Armin, I need you to learn everything I know to call you a proper mushishi. Eren, Mikasa, I´m not going to go easy on you, either.”</p><p>When they chirped in his arms, giving him ideas about what they wanted to learn, only then he realized how bittersweet sometimes happiness could be.<br/>
*** *** ***<br/>
Ten months after, military was looking for them.</p><p>It was rather lovely day, in Ginko´s opinion – they just helped few farmers with mushi stealing their sleep and they were heading to buy some bread when three figures in green cloaks and horses approached them.<br/>
“They´re from Survey Corps!” Eren yelps in awe. Mikasa and Armin are little more anxious – Armin´s eyes analyses them sharply while his hands are storing few herbs carefully in his own pack similar to Ginko´s. Mikasa stands in front of Ginko, subtly reaching for a knife she started to train with recently.<br/>
(All three of them were better with fighting than Ginko since that was not in his nature. It made him little sad how soon they needed to learn such a skill). </p><p>“We mean no harm,” starts the figure at right.<br/>
“Then show me your faces,” answers Ginko. Figures on left and right nods and pull they capes down – for figure in the middle, the man speaking as a first does so.<br/>
“My name is Erwin Smith. I´d not bother otherwise, but rumor about you goes far and we´re desperate.”<br/>
“Our best soldier, Capitain Levi Ackerman, lost his hearing.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Erwin is clearly a highest rank of three of them, a leader. The woman with glasses is almost vibrating with suppressed energy, ready to burst with questions. And the patient, Levi, looks at Ginko blankly, like he was just a wall or a fly – it was the face of man who lost hope. <br/>They are younger than Ginko and older than him at once. </p>
<p>“Let´s take it somewhere more private. Mikasa?”<br/>“Storehouse of the bakery should be empty now. And the owner still owns us a favor,” she offers. Erwin quirks his eyebrow at that. Ginko almost asks her to check it out, but then let it be – she would not let them with strangers alone anyway. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Armin and Eren asks a million questions of the woman – Hanji and she is enthusiastic to reply. It seems that people do not listen to her much. <br/>“One day, we´ll be just like you! All three of us!” Eren yells, excited. Hanji pats his head, smiling softly. <br/>“Your kids are… interesting. You must be a proud father,” Erwin comments. Ginko can sense his surprise about lack of protest on their career choice. <br/>He tells him the truth, allowing some protectiveness to soak in  his voice, “they´re dear to me. I´m not their father, though.”<br/>There are no more questions, although can tell that without other pressing matters, he would ask more. He did not learn to let things be, not yet. <br/>When they enter, Levi glares at the kids pointedly. <br/>Ginko cross his arms and gestures to his kids to come in with them. </p>
<p>When they sit down, Ginko asks some questions, glad that no one insisted on using military ranks to show their power or threaten them, as police tend to, since Ginko probably would not bother to humor them. They are the ones in need of help, not him.  <br/>When the loss of hearing occurred? Is it permanent? Was Levi complaining about pain before it happened? Did they observe something unusual, related or not to Levi, in time when he lost hearing?</p>
<p>Then, he meets Levi´s eyes – the man short in stature having an aura of danger around him, his eyes already hunted with loss – takes a tumb of his left hand and gestured a path from his right wrist through his arm, neck and ends close to his heart. Then he points at Levi. The man understands and allows Ginko to approach him, to repeat the motion on him, not without glee, though – his opinion about someone as Ginko clearly dismissive at best.</p>
<p>“Nothing´s swollen,” he said aloud, stating, “Armin, what do you think?” recently, he started to ask Armin about his opinion, as a part of his apprentice training. <br/>Armin bits his lip in careful consideration, then turns to Hanji, “did your expedition involve some cold quiet places, madam?” <br/>She blinks, clearly taken aback, “yeah, we camped in a cave and witnessed a first snow of this year. But how would you know?” <br/>The young blond turns to the mushishi, ignoring the question, “I think we deal with <em>Un</em> mushi, Ginko-sensei,” he states. The older mushishi nods in approval and could not help a small smile, gesturing to still glaring Levi.<br/>“Prove it to me, then.” </p>
<p>“I might remind you that Capitain Levi´s a very valuable soldier and no harm can be done to him without consequences," Erwin interferes, clearly confused and wary. <br/>“You have my word and word of my apprentice. We´re only testing a theory,” Ginko promises, “Armin?”<br/>“Eren, Mikasa, come to Levi´s left. Erwin-san, Hanji-san, please, the patient´sright. At three, yell at him as loudly as possible. I mean <em>really</em> loudly. Try to use high voice, screeching would work the best.”<br/>“Why would-“<br/>“Do you want our help or not?” Eren demanded, as short tempered as ever even with soldiers he clearly adored, “stop questioning Ginko-sensei and Armin, then.”<br/>They did as they have been told. And hell, Ginko covered his own ears, because <em>ouch</em>. <br/>“Levi?” demanded Ginko, “can you hear me?”</p>
<p>Levi blinked slowly, then his eyes widened in shock.<br/>“Explain yourself, you witch doctor. For a minute, I <em>could</em> hear you. And I did not hear a fucking thing in two weeks no matter of what the best fucking doctors in the capital tried.” <br/>*** *** *** <br/>“There´re creatures called mushi,” Ginko started “nor plants nor animals, just creatures, life in its purest form. They´re not aware. They just exist in their own ways. Most people could not even see them.”<br/>All three of them looked interested enough, not even bit of spooked out – but the one could not be scared easily if willingly facing titans, right? <br/>Levi is reading from his lips, Ginko observed. The shorter man looked grumpy but alert enough – everything was improvement from his previous lifelessness.</p>
<p>“Levi encountered one of these… mushi?” Erwin asked, putting two and two together. <br/>“Yes. The one called <em>Un</em>, as my apprentice correctly diagnosed,” Ginko praises, “this mushi eats sound. When winter is approaching, they usually search for humans, since nature gets too quiet for them to survive. If there´s no other option, they can hibernate. They look like a slim then,” he explains. </p>
<p>“This is… absolutely crazy. Creature capable of eating <em>sound</em>? I love it. I want to study it, ” Hanji states. Ginko does not bother to remind her that she could not see them.  “That winter part, that´s why young Armin asked about our expedition. But what about that screeching part?” she turns directly to him, eager. <br/>“The higher tone, the higher is it frequency and it provides more food for <em>Un</em>. Enough food to stop eating sound coming to Capitain Levi´s ear for second or two and let him hear again,” he explained. </p>
<p>Hanji giggles. “Holly shit…. Kids, never tell Levi about the fact that he has some creature living in his ear, okay? He´ll go absolutely nuts-“<br/>“Can you kill this…mushi?” Erwin asks. Ginko observes that it was not only him who grimaces in distaste in mention of killing mushi unnecessarily – he taught his kids well, even though they could not see mushi. <br/>“We´re going to extract it. There is no use in killing it. Armin,” he asked, “take one of my cigarettes to repel the mushi. I´m the one doing luring this time,” Ginko informed the blond. It was truly a time to let Armin try the more difficult part of the process. He pass him a small bottle with herbal salty solution and empty container for himself, “just don´t use too much or we would really harm the mushi,” he warned the blond although he already had known. <br/>“Sir, please, lie down,” Armin says aloud even though Levi is deaf and push him – the soldier takes the hint easily and complying.<br/>Ginko goes a bit closer to both of them, step or two between them and lights Armin´s cigarette. </p>
<p>“Erwin, Hanji, go behind me, as far as possible. We don´t need the mushi to take one of you as a new host. Mikasa, Eren, you too, but closer to me. I´ll need you to sing so mushi would go my direction.”<br/>“Why are you go so far to save something clearly dangerous?” Erwin could not help himself, his brow furrowed in confusion. </p>
<p>Ginko answers when kids behind him starts to sing a song with their highest voices while watching Armin treating Levi carefully, cigarette in a corner of his mouth, “I remove the creature which means no harm and its fault is only the fact it exists at wrong time and place for us as its predators. I hope that one day, when I will get to the position of this mushi, somebody will do the same for me.”</p>
<p>It was like… you do not kill spider in your home, you just take it and let it out through your window. It was really the same for Ginko. <br/>Both he and Armin watched in awe when <em>Un</em> finally abandoned Levi´s ears, slowly moving through the air to Mikasa and Eren. Ginko waited patiently, then snatched both of them quickly, catching them in the container. <br/>Sometimes, he still wonders how ridiculous it must look for people who could not see mushi. Snatching thin air, talking in all seriousness about small creatures unseen by the commoners. </p>
<p>“Done. Can you hear me?”<br/>Before Levi could reply, a roar echoed through the city and then a quake knocked them down. Ginko huddled the kids, shielding them instinctively. Mushi is carefully cradled in his hand.<br/>All three members of Survey Corps looked pale like death itself, in various stages of shock and disbelieve. Levi was first to break the silence.  <br/>“Shitty glasses, Eyebrows, <em>we need to go</em>.”<br/>“What was that?” Eren demans, clearly scared. Levi´s eyes softens a bit, looking at him. There is still something warmth left in him under his harsh shell, it seems.<br/>“Titans, brat. Somehow, does monsters got in the city.”<br/>*** *** *** <br/>Even years after, Ginko was not sure how to describe the first titan he encountered. <br/>It looked… bizarre. Lifeless although still moving. Scary. Especially moving through the hole in the wall, one after another. <br/>Ginko would remember the screams of eaten to the rest of his life. </p>
<p>Levi cursed, “how many soldiers we have here now, Erwin? I only know about Petra and her squat.”<br/>“Fifty, tops, with Petra´s squat. All veterans at least,” he answered, “I´m going to contact the police – they´ll evacuate citizens. We´ll slow titans down until other soldiers are mobilized and send here. Meet me at the police tower!” he barks and then, he is gone.<br/>One titan – a tall one with blond hair and morbid smile looks at him, holding his gaze while chewing upper half of some woman, other body still moving desperately in its hands. <br/>There are no mushi around those titans. That´s what scares Ginko the most. </p>
<p> “Take kids to the river. To the boat. Please, promise me you´ll get them there.” It was closest entrance to inner wall, other city safe from this hell. They will evacuate people that way and attack just started, so not many would get there before his kids, if Hanji and Levi use their engine. Just three streets, ten minutes on feet. <br/>“Ginko-san, we need to-“<br/>“That´s my price to pay for Levi´s hearing. Go.” He looks straight to Levi´s eyes. <em>You are in my debt.</em> “Just take them.”<br/>“No! <em>No!</em> You have to go, we can´t loose you too!” Armin begs. His little one, the sharpest one. Eren and Mikasa look at him in dread, then start to yell at Ginko to explain. <br/>The wall is compromised. He is free to go beyond. </p>
<p>He knows he is selfish. But the kids have their dream which would hurt them and Ginko. Ginko let them reach it anyway. <br/>They have to let him find his own path, too, in return. He cannot put them as the priority on the account his own happiness for a rest of his life. Love does not work that way, at least not for him. <br/>“It´s time to go.”</p>
<p>Then, he runs. In the corner of his eye, he sees Levi and Hanji taking them, cries of his pleading kids torturing the part of his soul which is already accustomed to this world, the one loving them. </p>
<p>He follows them, sneaking around. Titans do not see him, or at least do not try to eat him for some reason. Maybe they sense that he does not belong to this world.<br/>He waits until the boat with kids drifts off. He is almost sure that Levi knows about him, nodding to him hastily, like he was saying <em>I paid my debt to you</em>, then flying back to the hell to save as many as possible. The villagers, simple people he was helping in his world, they silently bore bad fortune of their lives. These soldiers refuses to do the same, still keeping their ideals and for that, Ginko admired them.</p>
<p>The moment the boat is out of his sight, he is free.<br/>*** *** *** <br/>One messenger mushi is in his pack. <br/>Other stayed in Armin´s.<br/>There is so much he wants to say. <em>Stay safe. Look after each other, as a family you are. Respect nature and its ways. Do not forget ways of mushi. Do not worry about me although I worry about you constantly. I had to go like you had to go to see the sea. I am so sorry.</em></p>
<p>Ginko believes that with age, the kids would forgive him eventually. That they would understand the strange man who they live with for three years of their lives. Also, against all odds, Ginko hopes that one day, his kids will meet Levi, Hanji and Erwin again. That these three will survive long enough to teach his kids things he was not able to. </p>
<p>But at the very end, he just wrote:<br/><em>Until next time, my little ones.</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I could not resist a bittersweet ending, since Mushishi has tendency to do the same (as manga and anime alike).<br/>Levi and Petra happens off-screen. Levi recently lost Farlan and Isabel but he knows Petra since day one. I mess with the timeline a bit, but I do not care much about that. </p>
<p>What do you think? Kudos and comments are love for your author :).</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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